April 15, 2014
The University of Guelph has announced that it will close two of its Ontario Agricultural College satellite campuses, Kemptville and Alfred for financial reasons.  

The university says that stalled enrolment and rising costs are the main reasons for the move.

Students will no longer be accepted starting in the fall of 2014, and classes and research programs will stop by the end of 2015. Guelph’s Ridgetown campus will remain open and take in some of the Kemptville and Alfred research projects, the school announced.

Landscape Ontario ran certification evaluations out of Kemptville. One is scheduled for Sept. 13, 2014.

The Kemptville campus opened in 1917 and plans were in the works for “a massive celebration of 100 years in the community.”

The two campuses, which Guelph began managing in 1997, enrolled about 145 students this year in diploma and bachelor programs ranging from horticulture to food and equine disciplines, plus dozens more in short-course certifications like welding.

The closures will eliminate at least 75 full-time positions at Kemptville and 37 at Alfred, as well part-time and casual workers.

Dr. Robert Gordon Dean of OAC says that there have been pressures to close the campuses in the past.

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